Science Updates is a weekly email alert from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
== CATALYST VIDEO ==
Watch sections from the latest Catalyst programs at your convenience, including smashing atoms in CERN, Paul Willis in Antarctica and the low-down on sick buildings.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2127/0/
== TOP STORIES FROM NEWS IN SCIENCE == http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1759/0/
IS THE HOBBIT JUST A DWARF CRETIN?
The hobbit is a modern human affected by iodine deficiency in the womb, say Australian researchers, inflaming debate once again about the origins of the creature.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2128/0/
PESTICIDES MAY BE HIDDEN DANGER TO CHILD IQ
Household pesticides may cause some of the intellectual development problems in children previously associated with lead, an Australian toxicologist says.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2129/0/
FIRST IMAGES OF AVALANCHES ON MARS
The first images of avalanches on Mars, which were captured by a spacecraft orbiting the red planet, have been released by the US space agency.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2130/0/
WHY FLU VIRUS LOVES THE COLD
Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures, a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, US researchers report.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2131/0/
== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK == http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1764/0/
The New Moon is Saturday March 8. Thursday morning, 6 March, a very special sight with Venus, Mercury and the crescent Moon close together, well worth getting up for. The evening sky to the north is dominated by bright Mars and Saturn. In the north-west Mars forms a delightful broad triangle with the bright red stars Alderbaran and Betelgeuse. With the Pleiades cluster and Orion's belt nearby, the evening sky is particularly beautiful. In the north-east evening sky, Saturn can be seen near the bright star Regulus. Now is an excellent opportunity to observe the ringed world in a small telescope. If you don't own a telescope, why not go to your local planetarium or astronomical societies open days?
== ABC HEALTH & WELLBEING == http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1765/0/
== THE PULSE: PROBIOTICS: EAT YOUR BUGS ==
Australian researchers say probiotics can help some common bowel conditions. But how do you know what you're buying?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2103/0/
== FACTBUSTER: CAN CROSSWORD PUZZLES HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA?
Read the story and tell us how you keep your brain active.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2132/0/
== TRANSCRIPTS NOW ONLINE
BEACH FINGERPRINTING (Catalyst: 28/02/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2133/0/
THE SOUTHERN SURVEYOR –THE POWER OF ONE (Catalyst: 28/02/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2134/0/
SMASHING ATOMS IN CERN (Catalyst: 28/02/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2135/0/
DEREK DENTON: WHAT IS THIRST? (In Conversation: 28/02/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2136/0/
PAIN: THE POWER AND THE PAIN (PART 1 OF 2) (All In The Mind: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2137/0/
WHY SPEND UP BIG ON PHYSICS? (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2138/0/
MESOTHELIOMA DIARY - FAREWELL JIM HOLMES (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2139/0/
THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2140/0/
NEW APPROACHES TO GENE THERAPY (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2141/0/
PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF NANOTECHNOLOGY (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2142/0/
TMT – THIRTY-METRE TELESCOPE (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2143/0/
VIRTUAL TOOLS TO TEACH CHILDREN WITH AUTISM (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2144/0/
CELL PHONE THAT READS (Science Show: 01/03/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/2145/0/
== COMING UP ON ABC RADIO == http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1773/0/
SCIENCE SHOW - Cities and robots - meet the future
Saturday 8 March, 12.05pm & Monday 8 March, 7.05pm RN
Intelligent buildings that self-regulate; folding cars that you borrow like bikes; cheap robots for Chinese factories - and household slaves ever willing to help. The future is here and it's being invented by two Aussies at MIT. Professor Bill Mitchell is called an architect but now, as head of the MIT Design Lab, is much more. His vision of places you want to live in shows how much Australian cities need to catch up. Professor Rodney Brooks having invented iRobot to vacuum your house, is back in his lab showing how the next generation of machine slaves can tackle the subtleties of twenty-first century toil.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/902/0/
ALL IN THE MIND – Pain: Body, mind and culture (Part 2 of 2)
Saturday 8 March, 1.05pm, & Monday 10 March, 1.05pm RN
BBC Baghdad correspondent Andrew North was struck down with a debilitating illness after reporting in Iraq, paralysed with acute pain. After years of witnessing the agony of others, he was forced to confront his own. In Part 2 of his series exploring the perplexing nature of pain - how we suppress and express it - what works? And, All in the Mind's podcast this week features The Nature of Consciousness Debate with Paul Davies, Susan Blackmore and David Chalmers.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/903/0/
OCKHAM'S RAZOR - Update on the mobile phone and frog debate
Sunday 9 March, 8.45am RN
Last week on this program Barrie Oldfield looked at the decline of frog populations and the role that electro magnetic radiation and mobile phones might have in their demise. Today, Professor Rodney Croft, executive director of the Australian Centre for Radio Frequency Bioeffects Research at Melbourne's Swinburne University tells of his research in this area and says there is certainly no indication that humans or frogs are affected by radio frequency as the emissions around us are too small.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/910/0/
REAR VISION – The history of forensic DNA
Sunday 9 March, 1pm, RN
The use of DNA evidence in criminal investigations is now commonplace but questions are now being raised about the use of the latest DNA technology in criminal trials. And a hearing is underway in Europe testing the legal basis of Britain's enormous DNA database.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/913/0/
INNOVATIONS
Sunday 9 March (0830hrs UT), Monday 10 March (1330 & 1705hrs UT), Wednesday 12 March (0430hrs UT), Radio Australia
Scientific alarm over Crown of Thorns starfish threat in the Coral Triangle; researchers create valuable 'green' fuel from household waste and, the device that allows Pacific Islanders to cash in on coconut oil.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1775/0/
HEALTH REPORT – Calcium supplements
Monday10 March, 8.30am and 8.05pm RN
Earlier this year research suggested that older women taking calcium supplements to protect their bones may be damaging their heart. This study has come under criticism and created a huge debate amongst medical experts.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/920/0/
IN CONVERSATION - Energy - what are the choices?
Thursday 13 March, 7.35pm
The situation seems stark: exploding populations in Asia and South America will need much more energy than nature can tolerate. So, is the charge towards modernisation and material growth too big to stop? Nate Lewis, Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, reads the environmental riot act: unless we eschew fossil fuels we're in for the climatic crunch. Over in England, however, a Royal Society book on future energy options claims the choices are there and sustainable technologies will work. Dr. Katherine Blundell, a Royal Society Fellow, and Professor Fraser Armstrong, both of Oxford, review the green possibilities.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1468/0/
== HIGHLIGHTS ON ABC TV == http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/1773/0/
CATALYST
ABC 1, Thursday 13 March, 8pm
Go behind the scenes at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali where delegates are trying to save the world; solar-power beamed in from outer space; and the inspirational Melanie Fitzpatrick.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/101690/686964/834/0/
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